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REST Interface: Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog API

The data.geo.admin.ch Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog – API is a «dataset based» download service providing access to packaged geospatial data and related metadata.

Description

The data.geo.admin.ch Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog – API is a «dataset based» download service implementing and extending the STAC-API Specification (version 0.9) on top of the data model provided by the STAC-Specification (version 0.9).

The STAC API is a superset of the OGC API – Features – Part 1: Core (OAFeat) and therefore it should be possible to consume it with any OAFeat client.

The data model is based on the following main concepts:

  • Collection : a collection is a set of metadata about a geospatial dataset, like its name, description, spatial and temporal extent, etc. Individual records within a collection are called «Items».
  • Item : an Item represents an atomic collection of inseparable data and metadata. A STAC Item is a GeoJSON Feature and can be easily read by any modern GIS or geospatial library, and it describes a SpatioTemporal Asset. This means that the GeoJSON is not the «actual» thing, but instead references files and serves as an index to an Asset.
  • Asset : an asset is any file that represents information about the earth captured in a certain space and possibly time.

These concepts are mapped in the context of the FSDI as follows:

  • Collection : each geospatial dataset is described with a collection.
  • Item : depending on the type of dataset, a collection contains one (at least) or more items. Datasets that can be downloaded as a complete package, have at least one item, but can have more, one for each version/timestamp of the data made available. Other datasets, such as national maps or orthophotos, are traditionally partitioned into tiles. Each tile has at least one item associated with it, but may have more, one for each version/timestamp of the data made available.
  • Asset : an item serves as an index to at least one asset. An item can reference several assets, one for each configuration of the data in terms of spatial reference system, format, resolution, language, etc. An asset provides the URL to download the actual data in the property «href» (example).

Querying the data

The data.geo.admin.ch Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog – API provides several query endpoints:

EndpointDescription
/Returns the API capabilities
/conformanceInfo about the standards to which the API conforms
/collectionsList available datasets (Collections)
/collections/{collectionId}Returns metadata of the single Collection (JSON)
/collections/{collectionId}/itemsReturns the Items in the collection (GeoJSON)
/collections/{collectionId}/items/{featureId}Returns a single Item (GeoJSON)
/searchReturns a list of Items matching query parameters. Similar to /collections/{collectionId}/items, however it performs the filtering across all Collections

Example queries

Available datasets

To get the list of available datasets, use the /collections request.

Additional information

Terms of use
The terms of use are formulated in www.geo.admin.ch/terms-of-use.

Access

  • Landing page of the data.geo.admin.ch Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog – API
  • Documentation of the data.geo.admin.ch Spatial Temporal Asset Catalog – API

References